Starman by James Robinson

In the back of my head, I always wanted to collect and bind James Robinson’s Starman series, but I kept putting it off until I got other projects out of the way. Then DC started releasing the Omnibus volumes in paperback, which ended up hitting that sweet spot of price and scheduling. But for some reason, they only released the first two of six volumes in paperback. Since I didn’t want to pay the secondary market prices for the hardcovers, especially since I knew I wouldn’t be able to unload the first two TPBs, I opted to bind the entire series. The first volume here actually uses the Omnibus TPBs, plus the Shade mini-series (otherwise I probably wouldn’t include so many issues). I did move the Showcase ’95 story to its proper place, as it originally was published at the beginning of volume 2, right before #17.

The 80 Page Giant and Batman/Hellboy/Starman are out of published order. Both were released while the “Stars My Destination” arc was going on in the main series, so Starman wasn’t on Earth to have these adventures. The 80 Page Giant specifically references occurred before an event that actually happens in #43. I chose the placement for Annual #2 based on the Watch this Space pages, as well as Robinson’s commentary from the third Omnibus (as found on DC’s website).

Volume 3
Starman #47
Starman #1,000,000
Starman #48-60

Volume 4
Starman #61-80

I like the break between volumes 2 and 3. Not only does the book take a shift in plot as Starman actually takes to the stars, but it shifts creatively as editor Archie Goodwin passes, and Tony Harris is replaced by Peter Snejbjerg as artist. While #46 is a Times Past issue illustrated by Gene Ha, it ends with text pieces from Tony Harris regarding his exit from the series and from James Robinson regarding Archie Goodwin’s legacy on the title. I originally only planned three volumes, but after obtaining all of the issues, I just had to split the last book into two.